Droid Life » Miracasthttp://www.droid-life.com
An intense Android news community bringing you the latest in phones, rooting, apps, and reviews.Sat, 01 Aug 2015 18:19:40 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Microsoft Announces Wireless Display Adapter, a Miracast Receiverhttp://www.droid-life.com/2014/09/23/microsoft-announces-wireless-display-adapter-a-miracast-receiver/
http://www.droid-life.com/2014/09/23/microsoft-announces-wireless-display-adapter-a-miracast-receiver/#commentsTue, 23 Sep 2014 16:50:54 +0000http://www.droid-life.com/?p=150900Microsoft Announces Wireless Display Adapter, a Miracast Receiver is a post from: Droid Life
]]>Miracast never really caught on; the standard seems to have lost what little ground it had to simpler solutions, like Chromecast mirroring, but it has its niche in environments with flaky Wi-Fi connections and programs which require low latency. The only problem? Finding an inexpensive, reliable receiver. Luckily for those in the market, Microsoft unveiled an option today.

Microsoft’s Wireless Display Adapter, which looks sort of like a blockier Chromecast, is a USB-powered Miracast receiver which connects to any television, monitor, or projector via HDMI. It’s a no-frills device, meaning any smartphone, tablet, or computer which supports Miracast can pair with the receiver, and then mirror content on the connect display.

The best part? It’s only $60. That may be a bit more than Chromecast, but it’s a relative steal for a device with applications in enterprise.

The Wireless Display Adapter goes on sale in October. It should be compatible with most smartphones and tablets running Android 4.2.1 or newer.

Miracast technology, one of the lesser talked about features of theNexus 4, hasn’t had much play over the last month or two as adapters and TVs with the capabilities have yet to really reach the mainstream. There are a couple though, one of which happens to be the Netgear Push2TV PTV3000, which can be found at a variety of tech retailers. I picked one up yesterday, updated the firmware on it, and decided to take Miracast for a spin so that the DL community can see what it’s all about.

What is Miracast? It’s a technology created by the Wi-Fi Alliance to give users the ability to share content between screens over WiFi. Most of you know this as mirroring, something that can already be done over a hardwired connection in a variety of HDMI docks. The beauty of this, obviously, is that you don’t need wires. You simply need Miracast built-in, a WiFi connection, and a TV, monitor or smartphone.

Is the Netgear PTV3000 worth buying? It’s about $60 at Best Buy, but you should be aware that the firmware out of the box does not actually allow you to use Miracast. The device is simply Miracast-ready, but needs a firmware update to allow that functionality. At this time, there are a couple of beta firmwares in the wild that give it Miracast, however, most are buggy and have their share of issues. If you like to be on the bleeding edge of technology, though, feel free to pick one up to tinker with. (There are instructions down below for updating your Netgear to some of the beta firmwares.)

So as you can see from the video, it’s a neat technology, but until we get official firmware on devices like the Netgear PTV3000, it has some issues. In a way, it reminds me of NFC, in that it’s a fabulous idea that needs industry-wide adoption in order to be fabulous.

*Note – I’m told that this works with the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 and AllShare Cast, however, I had issues trying to connect my Note 2. There are apparently other firmwares out there that work better depending on the device.

To turn on Wireless Display (Miracast):

1. Open Settings>Display on your Nexus 4.
2. Scroll to the bottom to find “Wireless display” and tap on it.
3. Toggle to “On.”
4. Search for Miracast-ready devices.

Netgear PTV3000 Firmware Instructions:

2. Plug-in your PTV3000 to a power source.
3. Push the WPS button on the side of the unit for more than 5 seconds.
4. On your computer, open your WiFi network manager and connect to “Push2TV.”
5. Open a browser and navigate to – http://192.168.3.1
6. This is the firmware update page, so follow the instructions.
7. Browse for the new firmware that you downloaded above, and upload it.

]]>http://www.droid-life.com/2012/12/28/video-hands-on-with-nexus-4-miracast-and-the-netgear-ptv3000/feed/53NVIDIA to Add Support to Tegra Chips for Miracast Wireless Display Standardshttp://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/26/nvidia-to-add-support-to-tegra-chips-for-miracast-wireless-display-standards/
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/26/nvidia-to-add-support-to-tegra-chips-for-miracast-wireless-display-standards/#commentsThu, 26 Jul 2012 21:10:18 +0000http://www.droid-life.com/?p=77353NVIDIA to Add Support to Tegra Chips for Miracast Wireless Display Standards is a post from: Droid Life
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From the same creators of the WiFi standard, comes the Miracast wireless display standard, which allows for the wireless beaming of the display contents on your mobile phone or tablet, directly to a large HDTV screen in your house without a wireless router. To sum it up, you won’t need anymore HDMI or MHL cables cluttering up your home theater to copy your phone’s display onto your big screen in the living room.

NVIDIA is embracing this technology and has added enhancements for Tegra-powered devices to take full advantage of Miracast. To get a an idea of what they’re doing to enhance the new standard for wireless beaming, check the video down below.